She may be on the youthful side of the spectrum but Dana Hassall is far from new to the music scene.

Growing up on an alpaca farm in country Queensland gave Dana the perfect level of isolation to lock herself away and create. From the very early age of eight, she
was already gracing audiences with her songs and, albeit shy, performances. Her first songs certainly reflected life as she knew it back then, including compositions about horse riding, alpaca shearing and a heart-warming ditty about looking out for her younger sister. Suffice it to say she won’t be winning any ARIAs with those tunes, but they gave her the taste of storytelling and a thirst for more.

Fast forward sixteen years and Dana is still sharing stories with audiences. Although she’s not so shy on stage these days, she readily admits that she’s no extrovert either.
“I used to hide behind my mum’s legs every time someone started talking to me. I’m a little past that stage but I’ll still take singing over speaking any day. I secretly think that’s why I’m attracted to music – I can tell my story, but it’s pre-written so I don’t need to worry about saying something silly in the spur of the moment!”